Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Shares Up 1% on Analyst Upgrade

Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) traded up 1% on Thursday after Roth Mkm raised their price target on the stock from $81.00 to $97.00. Roth Mkm currently has a buy rating on the stock. Walmart traded as high as $88.26 and last traded at $88.01. 4,785,632 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 71% from the average session volume of 16,790,182 shares. The stock had previously closed at $87.18.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on WMT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Walmart from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Walmart from $81.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Redburn Atlantic raised Walmart to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Walmart currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $91.49.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.96, for a total value of $1,088,850.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 593,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,198,598.40. This trade represents a 2.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 2,709,163 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.37, for a total transaction of $209,607,941.31. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 630,501,148 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,781,873,820.76. This trade represents a 0.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 12,337,337 shares of company stock valued at $958,823,647 in the last ninety days. 45.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Walmart

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Walmart in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Walmart by 77.3% in the third quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 399 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Hoese & Co LLP acquired a new stake in Walmart in the third quarter valued at $33,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new position in Walmart during the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Finally, TruNorth Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Walmart by 138.3% during the second quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 429 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares during the period. 26.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Walmart Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $81.92 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $73.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $709.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.25, a PEG ratio of 4.33 and a beta of 0.51.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.78% and a net margin of 2.92%. The firm had revenue of $169.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $167.69 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.51 earnings per share. Walmart’s revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.43 EPS for the current year.

About Walmart

Walmart Inc engages in the operation of retail, wholesale, other units, and eCommerce worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Walmart U.S., Walmart International, and Sam's Club. It operates supercenters, supermarkets, hypermarkets, warehouse clubs, cash and carry stores, and discount stores under Walmart and Walmart Neighborhood Market brands; membership-only warehouse clubs; ecommerce websites, such as walmart.com.mx, walmart.ca, flipkart.com, PhonePe and other sites; and mobile commerce applications.